Hiking California's Sierra Nevada Mountains

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Day 6, August 18, 2014

Got up at 5:12, after an exhaustive night’s sleep, tossing and turning, back burning, legs cramping, mostly dehydrated and worn out from yesterday’s exertion. At about 2:00 AM I got up and went down to the lake to purify more water to drink. It was an absolutely beautiful night, with shooting stars above the big fractured granite monolith that overlooks the lake, with a few scraggly trees holding onto the nearly vertical face of the cliff. The quarter moon was up, not so bright that I couldn’t see the Milky Way splashed across the sky.

Rosalie Lake in the morning glow.

Gooseberries!

So at 5:12, I woke up Betty and we got packed to walk the 9 miles to Red’s Meadow. Long downhill, no time to look around much, as we heard our showers calling. Mostly red fir forest, I think. Burned areas were full of gooseberries and ripe currants, upon the latter of which we stopped to feast.

A fallen giant. What must happen to make all those roots fail at once?

A perfect defile between the rocks.

Red’s Meadow is close to the Devil’s Postpile, which I have never seen in real life. I’ve always wanted to go, and here I finally am. I wonder why all these columnar basalt formations are named for the Devil: The Devil’s Causeway, Devil’s Tower, Devil’s Postpile. Any explanations out there?

We arrived at Red’s Meadow at about 11:05 AM. Betty had told Dwight Worden to expect us there around 11:00. Damn! She’s good! I was totally spent from the bad night and the stress of the previous day. But Dwight and Tom were there waiting. Tom met me with a Haagen Dasz ice cream bar (I haven’t eaten one in years! It was good!), which we split. Then down to Mammoth to a condo we had rented. The shower felt awesome. Doing laundry now. Had a great salad for lunch, with pea sprouts and a crab cake. The first living vegetables I have eaten in a week. Now I’m imagining dinner…

Walked into Red’s Meadow once, from cross country trekking out of 1,000 Island Lakes. Was never so happy to see it. Met up with a friend joining us. From there, we headed south to Black Cap Basin, the rise out of Red’s Meadow was brutal. The Postpiles were incredible. The trip south from there to I think our first big lake, was to Florence Lake, then Thomas Edison, and south to Cortwright and Wishon Reservoirs. Man I’m reliving each step and day from decades ago. What a trip. Bless you both.